1. Israel’s Cyber Security Among Best in World A new report released by McAfee and the Security and Defense Agenda Think Tank listed Israel as one of the most secure countries in the world when it comes to cyber security, Ha'aretz reported. Isaac Ben-Israel, senior security advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, explains that Israel faces approximately 1,000 hacking attempts each minute and is able to block the vast majority of them. Ben-Israel cautions that “a cyber-war can inflict the same type of damage as a conventional war.”Read more...

2. American Firefighters Travel to Israel A delegation of 12 American firefighters recently traveled to Israel to learn about Israel’s fire safety preparedness, the South Charlotte News reported. The group met with various fire departments, police departments, and bomb squad units throughout Israel. “I felt safer there than in a lot of American cities,” said Jon Hannan, fire chief in Charlotte, North Carolina. The firefighters hope to continue building a relationship with the experts they met in Israel. Read more...

3. Israeli First Responders Treat Patients for FreeTwenty years ago, Eli Beer organized volunteers for a group of first responders in Israel. Today, that group has 1,700 volunteers and fields 500 calls a day with the goal of reaching those in need of treatment “within 2 minutes, for free,” he said. The Palm Beach Daily News reports that Floridian Michael Gelfand and his wife Edith have supported Beer’s organization, now known as United Hatzalah, for years, and explained that “we passionately believe in the lifesaving mission of United Hatzalah of Israel.”Read more...

4. Delegation Travels to Israel For Homeland Security PreparednessRepresentatives from companies and government agencies from 10 countries, including the United States, will arrive in Israel on Feb. 18 to learn about Israel’s terrorism preparedness, Homeland Security News Wire reported. The trip is organized by Canoga Park, a California company headed by two Israelis that offers courses on terrorism and how to combat it, and Shafran, an Israeli security consulting company. Eight Israeli homeland security companies will make presentations to the group.Read more...

5. U.S. Company Teams Up with Israeli Airline IT management software and solutions company CA Technologies has worked with Israel’s El AL airline to more efficiently manage its workloads, CA Technologies announced. This has allowed El AL to detect problems faster and troubleshoot more effectively. Arieh Berger, El Al’s operation system and information security manager, explained that CA Technologies has helped the airline “successfully manage our growing processing power and cope with the intensifying complexity of our computing environment.”Read more...

AIPAC's Homeland Security Monitor is a monthly summary of key articles highlighting the cooperative homeland security programs central to the strong and mutually beneficial strategic relationship between the United States and Israel. For more information on these issues, please write to homelandsecurity@aipac.org.